By James M. Ward and Anne K. Brown, The Storyteller's Thesaurus is more a group of words for storytellers needing a trigger, an idea, a different way of describing things (eminating magic instead of firing spells). For example, under Facial Features you get everything from cheeks (apple-cheeks) to dental work (partial plate).

A chapter on characters (this a fantasy work so Race and Species are considered equal footing), architecture & property, and a huge alphabetical index.

Will you ever need to describe a different dwarf race with apple cheeks but a character with a partial plate as a description? Maybe so. You now have a quirky (I believe James M. Ward did the original beloved Gamma World) theme/thausari grouping that gives you a basis to not only explore further but provides words you probably never thought of.

Although the GM's Companion is written with a modern setting in mind, and most of the advice is toward the techno-thriller genre (and good advice it is -- the list of movies is very interesting), it can easily be used for science fiction and fantasy (the airport could be a very interesting fantasy world location with a little work). Recommended. Use with the free d6 Adventure Locations on this website.

This is incredibly useful. I have often seen/heard the phrase "write what you know" and that often plays into your gaming. You use the five senses (gritty side walks, sulpher-smelling dungeon rooms, lemon-tang lamas bread) and combine names and titles and backgrounds. But when you want to go THERE, see what THAT is like, you need research. This book is incredibly helpful if you don't have the time for that amount of research. Pick a place (The Crooked Forest) and a person (Hilde Mangold, genius scientist and technician) from this book and in a page or two you have triggers, hooks, ideas. I can't wait for another one (the selection ranges all over the map and history). I wish this were in print.

One of the Official Series Bible series. You will need the main document for this. Greek-inspired superheros plus soap-opera roleplaying. Good for "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" television-style series or can be used to rough-out a campaign using Legends Walk (available on this site) as your own TV series.

One of the Official Series Bible series. You will need the main document for this. In this TV series you are part of a group of pulp-era adventurers. Set your dials to 1920s to 1940s, from action hero to powers-of-the-mind masked crime fighters.

The Official Series Bible is really nice. If you are a fan of Now Playing (available on this site) or Primetime Adventures (elsewhere), this series is an excellent way to break out a pretend television series that allows you to set up roleplaying adventures. Even if you are not a fan of the idea of playing a character in a TV series, each Official Series Bible is good enough to inspire a campaign. The text is clear and concise. The few downsides is that the Official Series Bibles maybe a bit too short. Otherwise, these systemless write-ups are top-quality.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but I know it was more than this. You get 10 Star names and their solar systems. These objects consist of a name and a type (e.g. Terrestrial, Asteroid, Rock Planet), and then some data.

The data did nothing to trigger ideas, and that's the problem for extended play. On the other hand you can put the data together in a quick, short description such as: "The orbital period of New Kenya is X; it is largely iron/silicate, has 1.25 times Earth gravity, 10 percent water and 5 percent ice, the atmosphere is dense and corrosive and has a colony and an advanced alien artifact."

That could be enough for a grand space-opera setting, but note that is all you get. Compare with West End Games d6 planets, or Hero games planets, or GURPS Space Atlas.

I think I was expecting one page with descriptions, adventures, and characters rather than a few lines of data.

Previously only available to members of the Yahoo Communities Fudgemembers. This is an excellent "create-your-character-as-you-go" design using the Fudge system. You will need to know how the Fudge levels (Terrible to Superb) and action resolution work to use this.

What they are: a way of describing relationships to other characters using the Fudge system (but the idea can be used in other games).
What they do: provide a bonus on die rolls, or story-dependent benefits.

Like: clear, interesting idea even if you don't think character relationships need a mechanic to encourage them (as opposed to roleplaying them).

Dislike: Far to short (but this isn't really a dislike as I wanted more). They only provided benefits, but there is an implied opposite to this concept. Watch any soap opera to see penalties for dice rolls or Trouble for story-relationships (this idea isn't stated but it exists in my opinion). So this article could be expanded.

Liked: Clearly laid out with only a few rought spots. Story-centered roleplaying drama encouraged thoughout and supported by the rules. It's got lots of examples, except for an adventure or two. A game with a deep love of its source.

Likes: Neat way to introduce setting. Introduction and key concepts are on one page, followed by several 1-page essays (a place, a person, an adventure location). I also liked the quick character concepts with a sentence or two for roleplaying, they were are very well done. The illustrations are simple and line-drawn but evokative.

Dislikes: It might be a bit too short. The section on magic is one page and gave only a few suggestions; I felt I still needed some advice on how to stage magic in the setting (or maybe my frustration was more with "this is your setting, go play" style of book that needed a couple of examples for different levels of magic?). Although I liked the many plot hooks and one-paragraph adventures, I wanted something a bit more fleshed out (these last two sentences are actually a "like" -- it left me wanting more rather than feeling too frustrated to continue).

This is a good product. It provides two styles of railroad car description: the historical and the base of operations for a player charater team (or villain hideout). I thought I would have images of Wild Wild West running through my head as I read this, but the description is incredibly good. I want one of these railcars.